


Let Men Burn the Stars

by SwordDraconis113



Category: Little Mermaid (1989), Once Upon A Time - Fandom
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-11-22
Updated: 2012-12-01
Packaged: 2017-11-19 06:27:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,178
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/570211
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SwordDraconis113/pseuds/SwordDraconis113
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ruby, trying to find solace away from the tense atmosphere of Storybrooke, finds a particularly territorial Mermaid by the beach. Seeking friends after Snow has left, she finds herself learning more than she wanted to about Arista's history.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Not many people visited the beach that Storybrooke resided on. The pebbled grounds made up most of it instead of white sands. The weather too was usually cold or cloudy, sometimes even both. On a particularly bad day, seaweed would wash up onto the shore and rot in the sun, making a distinctly pungent stench. None of which made for a hollywood-style beach.  
  
However, it was nice to walk along on a good day, and more than once Ruby wandered the shore with her shoes dangling off two fingers.   
  
Today she sat herself at the edge of the cliffs and rocks, eyes shut as she breathed in the sharp scent of the seawater. Salt would brush over her features in the wind, making everything feel clean, if a little sharp. Lying back, her legs crossed with one foot dangling in the air, Ruby found peace from the world.   
  
Storybrooke wasn’t particularly busy, but with the curse broken everything had become more intense. An atmosphere clouded over them like the purple cloud, and some days, working at the diner became too much. The beach was quiet and as usual, particularly empty.  
  
The spray of the waves hitting the rocks would rain down upon her bare legs, moments after the sound crashed. Added with the roar of distant waves, everything just had a serene atmosphere. It was an added comfort on such a warm day.   
  
She wasn’t sure how long she enjoyed the sun, but eventually heavy clouds brushed over the light, reminding her to return home. She had duties to attend to. Responsibilities.   
  
A tight sigh pulled from her as she sat up. However, as she lazily rose to stand, movement caught her attention. Sharp green eyes glared up at her from the rocks to her left. A woman, wet from the swimming, was staring at her angrily as she peeked up from the edge. Nothing below her shoulders could be seen, but it was clear the woman wasn’t in a bathing suit.   
  
“Hello.” The woman didn’t reply, instead only glaring at Ruby. “Have I...done something?” she asked.  
  
“This is mine,” she replied. “I claimed it.”  
  
Ruby laughed, despite knowing that doing so would make the woman’s glare harden. “I don’t see your name,” she joked lightly.  
  
“I don’t mark by my  name,”  she replied sharply. Ruby recoiled at the tone. “People can easily change your name, or say it’s their own. My scent is all over this area, I imprinted upon it.” Her eyes then ran over the length of Ruby’s body. “You’re not human,” she replied.  
  
“I am.”  
  
“No.”  
  
“I am!” Ruby replied defensively.   
  
“You are not. Your smell is off. It smells like...wet dog.” Ruby growled at the woman, who in reply, laughed at her. “Shapeshifter! It’s been some time since I’ve come across one of you.” Pushing her body up, she pulled herself onto the cliff with relative ease. Long strands of blonde fell over her shoulder, covering only a single breast in the movement.  
  
“Holy crap!” Ruby jumped back, staring at what should have been legs. “You’re a freaking mermaid!” It only took a dazed moment before she noticed the definite lack of clothes situation when it came to the woman’s breasts. “Oh...I ah, see.”  
  
The mermaid raised an eyebrow at her. “Did you want to touch them?” she asked deadpan.  
  
“Wha-I...what?”  
  
“When someone’s eyes are glued to me like that, generally they want something.  Usually  with humans, it’s sex.”   
  
Ruby’s cheeks flushed pink as she stumbled over her words and looked away. “No, I...they- they just caught me off guard.”  
  
“The taboo-thing you humans have is honestly ridiculous.”  
  
“It’s...people feel  weird -”  
  
“They feel ashamed,” she cut shortly. “I have had many men explain it to me before. Each time it sounds more ridiculous.” She rolled her eyes and began draining her hair onto the rocks before flicking it back over her shoulder and sitting back to allow the song on her breasts. Ruby blinked and then averted eye contact.  
  
However, she found herself unable to keep her eyes away from the leathery-red tail. Too quickly, she found herself look back as it slid against the rocks. “I’ve never seen a mermaid before,” she murmured.   
  
“That’s because we usually only let males see us briefly...before we drown them,” she grinned. Ruby shivered. “Fear not. I have no desire to impregnate myself, and even if I did, I highly doubt you have the necessary equipment. Drowning you, too, would be pointless and boring. I would much prefer to smash your head against the rocks and watch you bleed turn the water a satisfying red.”  
  
Ruby growled at the threat, “you can try.” Only a short laugh was returned mockingly. Relaxing, she realised the woman was purposely teasing her. “I always thought you guys had scaled tails.”   
  
“Scaled?” Defensively the mermaid sat up, all humour lost. “We’re not  fish!”    
  
“But-”  


“No,” she scoffed. “Mermaids are not  part fish . Do you see gills on me? No, because we are mammals and breathe as you do. Thirty years in a modern world filled with great advances in modern science and you couldn’t figure out the impossibilities of being half fish? You humans are really quite ridiculous.”

****  
“Ouch. Sore subject then.”  
  
“You try being compared to  fish.  It’s really quite an insult. Bloody things are no more intelligent than a crustacean. Ariel may have liked to keep them as company, but...well, that didn’t turn out too well for her.” She smiled bitterly at her own words.  
  
“Ariel?” Ruby echoed.  
  
“My sister.”  
  
“Oh. I’m Ruby by the way,” she offered. “Or...Red. But everyone calls me...Ruby now.”  
  
“Since the curse broke,” the mermaid nodded, making no move to speak her own name. Quietly, Ruby stared back down at the tail before her eyes returned to the mermaid’s.  
  
“What’s your name?”  
  
“Why?”  
  
“I’ve introduced myself,” she replied flatly. “Why are you so rude?”  
  
Slowly the mermaid looked at her, both eyebrows raising to reply. As Ruby continued to hold her ground, and stare back starkly, she rolled her eyes. “Because the nicer you are the more likely people walk over you and I really don’t care for footprints on my tail.” She stretched her arms then, arching her back. “If you must know, my name is Arista. Perhaps you’ll need it later,” she added with a smirk.  
  
Ruby blinked, returning the smile. “Perhaps I will.”   
  
Arista laid back against the rocks, shutting her eyes as the sun peaked out of the clouds again. “Weren’t you just leaving before I arrived?” she asked.  
  
“Yes.”  
  
“And?”  
  
“And you seemed interesting,” she shrugged.  
  
“Well, freakshows over. Congratulations, you’ve met your first mermaid, you can rest easily knowing that we truly do exist.”  
  
“Yes but...why?”  
  
“Why what?”  
  
“Why were you pulled over from our land?” Ruby asked. “I mean, what would mermaids have done to piss off the queen?”  
  
“ Your  land? That’s a bit haughty. I’ve walked across your land and from what I’ve seen  humans  don’t own it, nor do...shapeshifters.” Her lips curled in disdain before smiling at the reaction it caused. “No.  We  did nothing. My sister, however, made a deal and got more than she bargained for. It goes to show what happens when you deal with a witch.”  
  
“She made a deal with Regina?”  
  
“In a matter of words. Regina promised her three days on land, which more than most mermaids can bare, as long as she could borrow her voice. However, my sister got greedy -- or fell in love as she liked to put it -- and someone else came along and promised her an eternity on land. Regina didn’t take well to being double-crossed.”  
  
“So her curse was to never be on land again?”  
  
“We were unable to come to shore until recently.” She smiled up at the sunlight, “and  I  was the first to realise and claimed this spot.”  
  
“You’re quite territorial over this spot, aren’t you?”  
  
“Of course I am. It’s  mine.  Mermaids, by nature, are territorial. More so than dogs,” she sniffed. Running her eyes over Ruby she sighed and rolled onto her stomach, propping her chin onto one hand. “You’re quite determined to stay.”  
  
“You’re fascinating,” she replied. Arista rolled her eyes, finding the comment insulting. “I mean- I didn’t mean it like that. I just-”  
  
“First mermaid you’ve seen, blah-blah blah. Yes, I’ve heard it all. Don’t you have somewhere to be?”  
  
“Ah...yes.” She shut her eyes, finding herself dancing on her feet, anxious to remain but knowing she had to leave. She was already late and Granny was going to give her a lecture about how customer’s didn’t deserve to be kept waiting, and what poor business skills it showed. “Yes, I have work.”  
  
“Off you go then,” she waved her spare hand. “I’ll be back here, eventually you’ll find me again. I have a feeling you’ll be stalking out the area and I care not in finding a new one.”  
  
“You’ll be here when I get back?”  
  
“I can’t promise that. However, I am enjoying the sensation of being still, so I might.” She shut her eyes and leant her head down against her folded arms, her tail moving against the rocks to hit sprays of the water in the air.  
  
Ruby smiled. “Good. Because...” she trailed off, “I don’t know why, but I want to keep talking to you. I like you, weird as that is.”  
  
“It’s not. We release pheromones that makes us seem more attractive, helps to lure our prey into the water.” Ruby blinked down in shock before Arista peaked open an eye. “That was a joke. Possibly. Stay and you’ll find out. I’m feeling a bit peckish.”  
  
“Isn’t that cannibalism?”  
  
“My, my. So many questions from you. No, it’s not. I’m not human. We only share enough DNA to be able to procreate.”  
  
“How do you-”  
  
“Go. Ask questions later.”   
  
Ruby felt herself nod before she picked up her shoes, sliding them back on. She went to turn and give a last goodbye, but Arista seemed quite content in being undisturbed by her. Queitly, she left, and jogged back to the diner.   
  
As she had predicted, upon pushing through the doors and wrapping the apron around her waist, her grandmother gave her a warning stare and immediately started lecturing.   
  
“I know, I know,” she said. “But I got sidetracked. You wouldn’t believe what-”  
  
“Customer’s first. You can tell me later. With everything happening, we need to keep things as normal as possible to keep people sane. Which is why you need to be here on time,” she glared. “I can’t handle all the work by myself.”   
  
Ruby sighed, nodding before she turned back to the coffee machine. It’d only been a week since the curse broke and very slowly the town was trying to piece themselves back together. Though, with everything that happened to Emma and Snow, people were in an unrest.   
  
Even Regina was unsettled, unable to find her grounding regardless of the fact that she had magic back.  
  
And with Cinderella- Ella (oh really, she didn’t know who to call anyone anymore!) with her baby, Snow and Emma missing, Ruby found herself severely lacking in friends. Especially because of Snow, she realised with a pang. She missed her best friend desperately.   
  
There was no one to bump shoulders with and snicker about things. No one to gossip with. Well, that wasn’t exactly true. There was Belle, but with the library, she was busy getting things in order. And she also had Granny, as well as David who was always friendly. She even shared a few conversations with Kathryn. But...none of them were Snow.  
  
With a sigh, she kept her head down and worked. Smiling at the usual customers, offering conversations when she had a spare moment. Eventually, though, she found her shoulders heavy and her back aching as night pulled over the sky. Closing up shop, she gave a last goodbye to Granny, and headed back towards the beach.  
  
At the last moment, she turned down a street and found herself walking towards the bar. It wasn’t a good idea, she justified. She would be safe making friends with Regina. Somehow, she felt guilty for not returning to beach.   
  
But, it was better to be safe.  
  
“You okay?” David asked. Ruby blinked, looking at the door she was holding open. Smiling, she nodded and ducked inside the bar behind him.   
  
“Just a little distracted,” she murmured. “I...” she trailed off, looking into his eyes. David- Charming was obviously trying to be nice, but it was just as clear that he wasn’t fully paying attention to her. “Long day.”  
  
“I know that feeling,” he chuckled, “Can I buy you a drink?” he asked.  
  
“Where’s Henry?”  
  
“With his mother. She’s earned some time to spend with her son,” he smiled. “Well, actually Henry requested but...” he breathed out shrugging. “I think he realised that I needed some alone time as well.”  
  
Ruby’s eyebrows raised momentarily but she didn’t comment. Instead, she smiled and nodded. “A drink would be good.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Unable to resist, Ruby returns to the beach against better judgement.

  
  
Sleep didn’t come. She had found herself walking home, drinks heavy in her limbs and fogging her thoughts just enough that she felt giddy instead of pained. Charming had gone home, it was too late to talk to ring up Belle and everyone else was probably dead asleep. Even Granny was quietly at peace when Ruby found herself stumbling back to her room.   
  
It took until the obnoxious hour 4 a.m. -- which was too late to do anything, and too early for everything else -- for her to know that she wasn’t falling asleep any time soon. She was exhausted, tired and still found herself walking towards the beach, feeling the grains of sand slip between her toes as she walked towards the rocks.   
  
Sometimes, in the difficult summer nights, she would drag a blanket down with her and fall asleep as the tide began to change. The rocking sounds would lull her when nothing else worked in the heat.   
  
Though as she found herself walking, it didn’t take too long to work out why she truly was returning to the beach. Half of her hoped Arista wouldn’t be there, but when she came to the empty rocks, she felt strangely disappointed. Eyes heavy, she lifted herself up onto the rocks and crawled into her usual place, pressing her back against the cliff as she stared out to the dark horizon. Soon the light would break over the waters, spreading light onto the shores.   
  
Too soon, she figured, yawning.    
  
The rocks were strangely comfortable in her half-drunken state, and finally she found peace, allowing herself to drift mindlessly between dream and not.    
  
However, the peace was shortly lived when she felt rain begin to drop down on her face and body. Shifting, she rolled onto her side to ignore it, hoping it would detest instead of falling. It did not. In fact, at the sound of a short laugh, Ruby opened her eyes to notice that it was not  rain  dripping onto her, but ocean water dripping from the mermaid.   
  
Ruby squealed and unceremoniously slipped, falling off the rocks and landing painfully against the wet sands, somehow managing to avoid some of the more dangerous rocks. Moaning painfully, she tried to gasp back her winded breath.   
  
“You’re a bit skittish.”   
  
“You’re a bit creepy,” Ruby retorted out of breath, before dropping her back in the sands just as the tide washed over her. Yelping, she jumped up and frowned. Her body was soaked and her mouth tasted sharply like the sea.   
  
“It’s just water,” Aristra replied. “I don’t know why you’re making that noise.”   
  
Ruby glared up at her. “You scared me.”   
  
“Was I terrifying? I didn’t intend to be, I was just curious as to what you were doing. For all I knew you were unconscious and leaving your bloody scent on my rocks,” she informed her deadpan.   
  
“I was not bleeding!” she shouted. “I was  sleeping.”    
  
“On  my  rocks.”   
  
Ruby felt her hands clench by her sides, infuriated by the simplicity of the words. “I had them before you. I used to sleep here all the time before the curse was broken!”   
  
“And yet  my  scent is the one that’s on them, therefore making it mine.”    
  
“What do you want me to do, be like a dog and  mark  my territory?”    
  
Arista shrugged at her. “I’ve seen how dogs mark territory, it is not something I would suggest. I would much prefer you go somewhere unclaimed.”    
  
“No.”   
  
Arista pushed up on her arm, leaning over the edge, down at Ruby. “Excuse me?”   
  
“No. These are  my  rocks. I was here first.”   
  
“Really? You want to play that rule? Well in that case, I think these rocks belong to those of this land, not someone such as yourself who came from an entirely different world into this one by a curse. And as such, I therefore challenge such a person over ownership of the land.”    
  
“We don’t fight for ownership of lands, here. You buy them. And this is the beach, no one owns this area!”   
  
“Someone has to,” Arista replied. “If no one owns this area then anyone can come up and claim it as their own, such as I have.”   
  
Ruby growled. “It doesn’t work like that. The Mayor probably owns it!”   
  
“So someone does own this land,” she smirked. “And who is mayor of such an area as this?” Arista asked, forming her lips over the new word with ease. Ruby shivered at the arrogance in the mermaid’s voice and looked away, towards the ocean. Hands tight in fists, she took a moment to breathe.   
  
“Regina,” she replied softly, finding her peace with the rocking waves that crashed against the rocks. Arista folded her arms then, and propped her head down upon them.    
  
“Regina?” she echoed. “The Evil Queen owns these lands?” She chuckled then, smiling bitterly as she remembered the woman, “of course she does, after all she enacted the curse. Though I never thought she sell herself into a life of diplomacy, how dull. An entire world at her fingertips, any life she could have wanted and she chose to remain in politics?”   
  
“You know what a mayor is?”   
  
“No, but I imagine it’s much like a queen of a much smaller area -- if the ocean’s boundary means anything.” Ruby shifted on her feet, pulling off her soaked shoes and socks before placing them back up on the rocks, to the obvious disgust of Arista.   
  
“Thankfully, I do not own whatever is causing such a terrible smell.”   
  
“They’re wet,” Ruby replied unamused. “You shouldn’t be able to smell them at all.”   
  
Arista’s eyebrow rose. “Your knowledge of mermaids continues to astound me.” She paused to rolled her eyes. “I  can  smell them, and those  things smell like offensive bacteria.”   
  
“Can bacteria even be offensive?”   
  
Arista’s eyebrow rose before a scowl passed sharply over her lips as she lent over the edge, so she was eye-to-eye with Ruby. “I do not know if they can ask stupid questions, nor do I believe that they do much in that sense as humans seem to. However, I am aware they release a putrid odor and never has such a thing come from any other animals foot alike the human’s.”   
  
“What is your problem?” she demanded.   
  
“My problem? Shall I list them perhaps? How about the fact that your wastes are being released into  my  home, hmm? Or shall I move on from there and move onto the fact that many of your kind have slayed my sisters, my mother being one of them. You are an abomination and I await the day that the ocean rises up and swallows your land whole.”   
  
“We’re not all like that,” she replied much gentler than before. Arista shook her head, pulling away.   
  
“It does not matter, my experience with mankind is rarely good. It is lucky that I have no consuming hatred like one of my sisters. She takes a particular fondness into luring men into the depths of their doom.”   
  
Ruby blinked as she took a slow step back into the wet sands. “Are you serious?”   
  
“Quite,” she replied. Sitting up, she tossed the blonde hair over her shoulder and sighed, again forcing Ruby’s eyes momentarily down to the bare chest before she flicked them back up. “However as distracted as you may be, you have neither tried to seduce nor kill me, so perhaps you are different from the others I have met.”   
  
“Don’t bet on it, the sun’s still not up.”   
  
Momentarily Arista chuckled. “Perhaps, but that’s only if I don’t do one to you first.”   
  
Ruby held her breath for a pause, thinking over the words. “You would seduce me?” she asked tentatively. “I mean...I don’t really seem like your type...moments ago we were arguing.” Again, Arista found herself amused by the girl’s words.   
  
“You know nothing of my type; perhaps I require those I mate with to have a strong tongue,” she replied. “And why not? You are an attractive person and it has been a while since I’ve desired the land. Perhaps I will seduce you before the night is over.”   
  
Ruby’s forehead crinkled as a rush of thoughts ran through her mind. “But how- ah, I mean, you...your tail?” Never mind the fact that the anger seemed to have melted away quickly at the mention of sex, Ruby’s mind had suddenly become very focused on the mermaid’s tail.   
  
“What of it?”   
  
“You don’t seem to have...the- ah -- the um, parts?”   
  
“‘The um, parts’ yes well whatever that is, it sounds quite awkward.”    
  
“You know what I mean!   
  
“No, I honestly don’t. However if you’re asking about my lack of separated legs and the sex that lies in between them alike your own, then I think perhaps I shall ignore the highly personal question.” Ruby blushed furiously at the woman’s words.   
  
“I...I just meant-”   
  
“Yes, I can see.”   
  
“Mm.” Ruby’s eyes averted to the water, watching as the tide came up, past her ankles, then slipped back into the ocean. Taking a deep breath, she thought over what she was doing, why she was there and tried not to wash the woman brush sand from her chest. “I should go back home. It was a mistake to come here.”   
  
“A mistake?” Arista asked.    
  
“Yeah, you’re right. This is yours, I shouldn’t have returned.” She yawned, her shoulders heavy with sleep deprivation. “I don’t even know why I came.”   
  
“I do,” Arista said. Ruby shifted before sliding her gaze back to the mermaid. For once, the woman wasn’t looking at her as a separate species, instead she found the green-blue eyes looking at her softly. “You’re lonely.”   
  
“Lonely? No I have Charming and Belle and-”   
  
“Having people to talk to and having people who understand you are two different things. A balance of both is preferable. You can call the former friends but they’re rarely the people you’d lay down your life for without a thought.” Her expression hardened back into a mask and Ruby regretted her defensive reply. “Look, whoever these people are, they’re probably nice to talk to and you share some interests, but they don’t  know  you. Perhaps you have someone who does know you and experiencing that kinsmanship has made you feel more lonely with their absence.”   
  
“I...Yes, Snow. Is it written on my face or something?”   
  
“No, people who seek me out never do so because of me. They do it because of lacking desires they believe I can fill, if only momentarily.” Ruby felt something flicker inside of her regrettably. Her face must have shifted, because the next moment, Arista was scowling at her. “Do not pity me! It is you who should be pitied not myself.”   
  
“I don’t pity you,” Ruby replied. “I just wish that you...had what Snow and I share.”   
  
“I do with my sisters,” she snapped. “They are everything to me, more than any human can offer in friendship.”   
  
Softly, Ruby asked, “then why aren’t you with them? Why are you here?”   
  
Arista was silent for a moment, flabbergasted by the question before she tried to reply. “They...” Ruby watched as Arista’s eyes closed painful and she looked down at the rock beneath her hands. “I did something, to save them, to save us. When they found out they were less than pleased to say the least. But with the curse broke they remembered what I did and I was forced out.” She tried to shrug off, pretend it was nothing as she kept her voice steady.   
  
Ruby felt herself quiver upsettingly, ashamed to admit how badly she felt for the woman in front of her suddenly. “What of your home,” she asked.  “Surely they didn’t-”   
  
“I don’t have a home any more.”   
  
Again, Ruby when silent as she puzzled over the events “What did you do?” she asked.   
  
“What business is it but my own?” Arista snapped sharply.   
  
“I was just curious,” she shrugged. “I mean, maybe I could help?”   
  
“I doubt it.”   
  
“Why? Because I’m human? You made it quite clear that I was a shapeshifter. And you already said that I am different to the others you’ve met.”   
  
“No, it is not because you walk on two feet, dog.”   
  
“Hey-!”   
  
“Are you not a dog?”   
  
“I shift into a wolf.”   
  
“So a dog then? Enough, I care not for this pointless fight, nor the previous one. You can not help because there is nothing to fix. I am banished and this is my home now. This...small area.” She sighed, her eyes looking down sadly at her newfound home. “One which you were sleeping on.” The glare returned, acting as a mask to hide her vulnerability Ruby momentarily glimpsed.    
  
“Sorry.”   
  
“So now she apologises?”    
  
“I apologised before,” she said softly, keeping her tone from offending the mermaid. However, the woman seemed to find the lack of fight even more insulting as she pulled away.   
  
“You did no such thing.”   
  
“I did!” she urged.    
  
“There is no use attempting to trick my memory, I am not so defensive against mind-tricks. Unlike Ariel, I would not so easily fall for any human charms, or witchcraft you may try to send my way.”   
  
“I don’t know any magic.”   
  
“I do not care what you believe. Knowing magic and having magic are two separate things.”   
  
“You’re insufferable!” Ruby finally exclaimed, having enough of the defensive matter. “I’m trying to be nice and you’re acting like everything I say is an insult!”   
  
“Perhaps it is.”   
  
Sniffing, Ruby threw her hands into the air and turned around. “I give up. You are impossible. There is no end to your attitude.” She felt her hands, once again, close into a tight fist as she held her breath. “I just wanted to help, maybe you could...”   
  
“I asked not for your help. I answered a question, nothing more.”   
  
Closing her eyes, Ruby thought of her best friend and felt herself calm down once again. Snow always brought out an inner peace, even without her presence nearby. “I’m sorry,” she replied. “I didn’t intend to offend.”   
  
“Intent is meaningless.”   
  
“Then I shall take my leave since you obviously have no interest with me being here.”   
  
“So you’re leaving then? Such a shame, and here I thought we were getting along quite well,” she smirked snidely, lying herself down on the rocks.    
  
At that, Ruby snapped, throwing a final glare at the woman before she stormed off back home. It was only when her feet stepped down onto the grass back to the town did she realise she’d left her shoes behind.   
  
However there was no way she was going back  now.  Arista was too much to deal with at that moment. Feeling even more angry, she stalked back to home, curled up in bed and finally slept with her thoughts darkly turning over what Arista had said.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Indignant towards Arista, Ruby swallows back the anger only to retrieve her shoes, though first she has a conversation with Granny.

**** The noise was obnoxious, loud and heavy. Sitting up, Ruby glared at the time. She’d only managed to get a few hours sleep. “Come on Ruby, I need you to work,” Granny said as she opened the door.   
  
“Don’t I get today off?” she asked, voice hoarse. Dropping back down on the pillow, she heard her grandmother’s reply. Something about busy day or... it was difficult to hear beneath the pillow. Whatever it was, Ruby would much rather hide under the sheets and slip in a few more hours of sleep.   
  
“Come on, up you get. Shower then downstairs.” The covers were yanked off and slowly, Ruby peeled away from underneath the pillow and sat up. Nodding, she yawned ungracefully and murmured a short reply. “I’ll make you a coffee and breakfast. Now go.”    
  
Ruby gave another groan before stumbling towards the shower. Only after a soak beneath the hot spray, did she came back to dress and notice her lack of shoes. Pausing for a moment, she fumbled in her memories. Then remembered where’d she left them. She had to go back for them. They were her favourite red sneakers, and she had so far managed to keep them mostly clean.   
  
Frowning, she placed on her lack-of-red shoes and while still half-asleep and grumpy, walked down stairs. Food was ready and laid out in the cluttered kitchen. “Thank you,” she murmured, taking first the coffee, then the omlette. Granny smiled at her before turning back to the food she was preparing for a town meeting or perhaps it was for the diner.   
  
Ruby wasn’t sure. Her head hurt, and all she could think about was Arista’s face. Her downfallen expression, as she had talked about her sister, left an imprint. But the more she thought on it, the more it hurt. Eventually she allowed her mind to wander to her shoes. She had to go back. However, the mermaid probably got grumpy enough to toss them in the ocean.   
  
She  had  been unreasonably rude to her, but so had Arista!    
  
Frustrated, Ruby contemplating flopping down onto the omelette and just sleeping on it. It looked fluffy, soft and-   
  
Her stomach growled unexpectedly. Being a wolf gave her a larger appetite for meals and so far, her stomach was winning over her need to sleep. “You alright there?” Her granny asked. Ruby smiled up at her.   
  
“Yeah, just tired. Bad night sleep.”   
  
“I heard you coming and leaving last night. Go to the beach?”   
  
“Yeah, but...” she shook her head. “Hey Granny...what do you know about mermaids?” Her grandmother paused, thinking over the question.    
  
“Not much. Lore on them is thin as it is. Most of the tales are kept amongst those who live near the waters. What I do know about them is that they’re a nasty species. They lure ships to dangerous rocks and crush them, mating with any survivors who interest them, before too, killing them. However, they do have good reason to be angry.”   
  
“They do?”   
  
“Well it’s just rumours, tales in bars and whatnot. But a long time ago there were rare things kept in the depths of the ocean, lost treasures fallen from ships, exotic beasts. Mermaids are able to travel where many of us can only dream, and sometimes they would trade to go to these depths. But eventually they were hunted down as men got greedy; trapped, tortured and forced to go on missions. It got to such a state that their anger for humanity became so extreme they lashed out and retaliated. Well...so they say. Stories get twisted as the years on, but this seems to be a common theme from what I’ve heard.”   
  
Ruby when quiet, thinking over what she had said. “But wouldn’t that have happened a really long time ago?”   
  
“Perhaps, but it’s hard not to hold onto anger when it’s all you know. Prejudice comes from both ignorance as well as teachings. A merchild taught that all humans are cruel will believe so until proven otherwise, and even then it’s hard to see the truth when you don’t want to believe.”   
  
Ruby frowned then, her forehead wrinkled in thought. Granny, however, was less perplexed by the words and what they meant for Ruby, and had returned to cooking the food.   
  
Eventually, Ruby rose from her seat, washed her own along with some of the other dirty dishes, before then starting her duties. There was much to do, it seemed, and only a short time to do so. People to smile at, benches to wipe down, food to carry, drinks to make. It was a long day and left her feet aching. By the end, she was crawling back into bed without another thought for food, and resting easy.    
  
She’d only planned for a nap, hoping that Granny would tip-toe into her room and gently wake her for supper, but no such thing happened. She slept through most of the night and woke up obscurely at one hour, terrified.   
  
Her sleep hadn’t come undisturbed and through her nightmares, she found herself trapped, helplessly drowning as mermaids came and dragged her beneath the water. Strangely, she broke the surface long enough to see Arista, sitting on the rocks, her face sad as she allowed her faceless sisters to drag Ruby back down.   
  
Ruby laid in her bed for a moment, her body trembling from the effects. She didn’t understand the dream, couldn’t comprehend what it could mean -- if it meant anything at all -- but she knew she wouldn’t be going back to sleep.   
  
This time, when Ruby walked to the beach, it was with certain steps. Fear made her body cold to the wind, but the welcoming sight of the incoming tide, soothed her. Until she saw Arista, resting against the beach instead of the rocks. For a terrible moment, Ruby was suddenly paralleled with the day she found a dead fish washed up on shore.    
  
The terror past as Arista shifted, playing with the incoming tide with the tips of her tail.   
  
Ruby watched for a moment, smiling. Perhaps she shouldn’t interrupt. Allow Arista peace away from her. But before she could walk back, Arista looked over her should briefly at her before turning back to the ocean.    
  
Slowly, Ruby walked over and without thought, sat down beside her. “Do you do this often?” she asked. “Come in and leave with the tide?”   
  
“The rocks are hard to sit on at times. It’s nice to have the sands as well,” she replied. She sat up and smiled sharply at Ruby, “Can’t stay away from me, I see.”   
  
“I actually came for my shoes, though I’m expecting you to tell me that they ‘mysteriously’ fell into the ocean.” Arista laughed at the comment, not noticing how Ruby’s shoulders relaxed now she sat beside the mermaid.   
  
“No, I did not. I allowed your pungent shoes to remain where you placed them.”   
  
Ruby smiled. “Thank you.”   
  
“I thought it a bit much to toss them into the ocean. The entire effort of grabbing the disgusting shoes, and then tossing them was too much effort. The smell may have never left my hands.” She smiled softer as she spoke, looking out towards the ocean. It was almost sad curve of lips.    
  
Ruby stared at her expression, wondering what she was thinking about; if she wished she was in the ocean with her sister.    
  
“I dreamt about you, tonight.”   
  
“Is that why you truly came to the shores? Wishing to take advantage of what I offer, then?” she asked.   
  
“No. I didn’t...” she trailed off, shaking her head. “I mean, I had a nightmare. I was being dragged underwater and you were sitting on the rocks, sadly.” She regretted the poor choice of words as Arista’s expression shadowed`.    
  
“I watched you sadly die? Do you think I’d truly be sad if you died?”   
  
“No, you misunderstand.”   
  
“Perhaps you misspoke,” she bit back.   
  
“Perhaps I did,” Ruby replied. “What I meant was that you just looked sad. Not sad that I was dying, just...generally sad, and...you look sad now.” Arista recoiled, shock shattering her mask for a long moment. Terrified, Ruby watched the woman’s look at her horrified at being caught exposed. “I...”   
  
“Shut up,” Arista glared. “You know nothing about me. Nothing.”   
  
“Except what you’ve told me; I just meant that there are moments when you look out at the ocean and-” the slap hit face hard, and instantly Ruby went quiet, grasping her red cheek.   
  
“You know nothing about who I am and less about how I feel,” she informed her. “Why did you even come here tonight? To inform me of how weak you think I am?”   
  
“I don’t think you’re weak.”   
  
“Then why say these things?”   
  
“Being sad is not a weakness,” Ruby said, rubbing the slapped cheek. Her nerves still stung, the pain rippling echoes across her cheek as she softly tried to soothe the pain. Ruby had never been slapped before, but she was sure that it wasn’t supposed to hurt  this  much.   
  
“Oh glorious, you again are offering up your opinion. Sadness allows an enemy to seek your weakness and invites defeat. Allowing someone to know what hurts you the most is a truly stupid act. Therefor, sadness is a weakness.”   
  
“I’m not your enemy,” Ruby replied. “I have no desire to hurt you.”   
  
“Oh, well you’re doing a fine job of that then!” she spat. “This is why you are here, is it not? To crush me, force me to cry in front of you so you may prove that you are better than I?”   
  
“What is your problem?” Ruby asked. She felt the familiar fury bubble inside of her. “How in the world did you become so defensive that you believe everyone is out to get you? I have been nothing but as polite as possible until you  push  relentlessly for me to fight. Do you want to argue like this? Because I don’t! For once I would like to just be civil and discuss things as two normal people.”   
  
“I am not  people. ”   
  
“No, you’re a freaking mermaid which is awesome as hell, and I’m a shifter! Neither of us a purely human, the difference being that you use it as an excuse to be rude.”   
  
Arista glared furiously but made no move to comment. She was too stubborn to leave and Ruby was determined to remain. It was a disaster on both parts as they awkwardly remained quiet, staring out at the ocean.   
  
Eventually Ruby broke, shoulders heaving with a heavy sigh. “Look, I...I’m not sure why I came here. I had a nightmare and...I don’t know I just wanted to make sure you’re okay.”   
  
“Why? You don’t like me.”   
  
“That’s not true. You’re annoying,” she admitted, “but I don’t dislike you. I don’t know why, but I keep finding myself coming back. You’re fascinating...as a person.”   
  
“Perhaps you’re just merely attracted to me and my brash behaviour,” she said sarcastically.   
  
“Hardly,” Ruby replied. “Maybe I just genuinely see that there’s more to you then whatever armour you’re wearing to protect you, and I get it. Well, I don’t but I understand why you wear it and...you just don’t have to wear it around me. I’m not going to exploit anything, or do anything to purposely hurt you. I’m not that kind of person.”   
  
Arista was quiet, thinking over the words. For just a moment, Ruby believed that maybe she had gotten through, until the mermaid spoke. “That’s what they all say one way or another.” The tone was gentle, but painful to hear. There was so much resentment behind the words that Ruby shivered uncomfortably.   
  
“But I won’t,” she urged.    
  
“You will. You may not mean it, but everyone always ends up hurting everyone else. You might not mean to, but you will.”   
  
“You don’t know that.”   
  
“Yes I do. I’ve lived a very long time and history always shows that it’s in our nature to create chaos when there’s too much peace. It’s not balance we seek, it’s the whole spectrum. We strive to feel something, anything that makes us feel alive, and for that to happen you need to feel one side of each emotion.”   
  
“That makes no sense,” Ruby replied. “All people want is to be happy.”   
  
“No they don’t. Not really. They think they do, but you can’t appreciate happiness unless you’ve felt sadness. Just like you can’t appreciate peace without experiencing war. Otherwise you begin to feel indifferent towards it.”   
  
“That’s ridiculous.”   
  
Arista eyes narrowed at the girl. “Your friend, I bet it was nice having her around, but with her gone you’re probably suddenly aware of how much you actually want her to return. If she does come back, for a long time you will truly appreciate your friendship for what it is, until that feeling fades again and you’re left taking advantage of the moments until you lose her again.”   
  
The tide had begun to reach up to Arista’s tail and contently, she smiled at the feeling of the water rushing up and down over her. Her anger seemed to soothe away the frustration.   
  
Ruby, however, had moved backwards so it only just ran to tip of her toe. “So...”    
  
“Enough,” Arista interrupted. “The tide is coming in and I tire of this conversation. Quiet is preferable.”   
  
“But...” Arista glared at her, “Ah, how old are you?”   
  
“I’ve forgotten. Old. Too old.”    
  
“Do mermaids age?”   
  
“Yes, but differently. We usually tire of life and give into the depths of the ocean, or we go insane. I have not chosen my fate, however, my sisters may have chosen it for me.” Idly her fingers played with her hair as she thought it over. “Perhaps insanity will bring me peace, however short lived it may be.”   
  
“But the banishment can’t be forever. Isn’t there something you can do?”   
  
“No. There’s not. At least there’s nothing I would do. I did not do anything wrong and until they accept that, I will remain in isolated from them until they see fit. If a day shall arrive that they realise their mistake, then I may return. Why must we recycle old conversations? Are there not enough unsaid for us to ponder over?”    
  
Ignoring the latter, Ruby replied, “I think that’s wrong. I think you should talk to them, find out what you can do. You don’t always have to say sorry, sometimes you just-”   
  
Arista turned and glared, “I do not need your opinion on how to live my life, dog.”   
  
“But don’t you want to go home?”   
  
“Of course I do. What ridiculous question is-”    
  
“Then why can’t you do something? Maybe find some lost treasure or talk to Regina, or-”   
  
“Because it can not be forgiven. It is either accepted or it is not, there is no other way for me to return home. No grande quest, no spiritual speeches that melts their hearts, nothing. I did something, it was the right thing, and they’re too stubborn to accept,  that is all. ”


End file.
